Ä [20] P_NEWS (1:375/48) ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ P_NEWS Ä Msg : #3708 [50] From : pnews@igc.apc.org 1:343/70.10 Mon 18 Apr 94 16:04 To : All Subj : COLOMBIA/USA: End military assista ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ Date: Mon, 18 Apr 1994 17:04:29 -0700 From: Hank Roth /* Written 11:07 pm Apr 15, 1994 by hnaylor@igc.apc.org in igc:ai.general */ /* ---------- "COLOMBIA/USA: End military assista" ---------- */ Amnesty International USA 322 Eighth Avenue New York, NY 10001 Thursday April 14, 1994 AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL CALLS FOR SUSPENSION OF U.S. MILITARY ASSISTANCE TO COLOMBIA International human rights organization maintains that U.S. aid may contribute to human rights violations Washington D.C. -- Amnesty International today called on the United States Congress to maintain its hold on current, and to suspend future, military assistance to Colombia because of its grave concerns that past assistance has contributed to the human rights crisis in that country. Amnesty International is troubled by the evidence -- not least of which comes from the United States General Accounting Office (GAO) -- that U.S. military assistance has gone to Colombian units responsible for the killing of unarmed civilians, as well as other human rights violations. Since 1986, over 20,000 people have been killed for political reasons in Colombia - the vast majority by the armed forces and their paramilitary proteges during counterinsurgency operations. In a letter to Secretary of State Warren Christopher on April 14, William F. Schulz, Executive Director, AIUSA formally communicated Amnesty International's call for a suspension of U.S. aid to Colombia, and reiterated the five questions which Amnesty International considers central to any discussion on US military assistance to Colombia: 1) To what extent has there been a diversion of U.S. funds designated for counternarcotic programs to counterinsurgency? 2) What are the units of the Colombian armed forces that currently receive or have received U.S. military assistance? 3) To what extent has the U.S. Government funded Colombian units (both counternarcotics and counterinsurgency) that have been implicated in human rights violations? 4) What steps has the U.S. Government taken to ensure its aid does not end up with Colombian units implicated in human rights violations? 5) What investigative and/or corrective measures were taken to address the results of the GAO investigation on counternarcotics aid to Colombia made public in August 1993? This letter to Secretary of State Christopher follows the March 16 launch of Amnesty International's worldwide campaign to end political killings and "disappearances" in Colombia, and comes as the U.S. Congress begins its deliberations on the U.S. Administration's FY 95 US foreign assistance requests. Amnesty International USA, while awaiting a response from the Department of State to its March 10 letter to the Bureau of International Narcotics Matters, and its March 16 letter to Secretary Christopher requesting information on the above questions, feels the urgency of the situation necessitates immediate action. AIUSA is therefore calling on members of the Appropriations Committees of the U.S. Congress not to release the hold on FY 1994 military assistance to Colombia and not to grant the requests for FY 1995, at least until adequate responses are received. Since August 1989 when President Bush approved the Andean Drug Initiative, Colombia has received more military assistance from the USA than any other country in the Western Hemisphere. In the first three years of the initiative over two hundred million dollars in military assistance was provided to Colombia. Although the bulk of this aid has been sent under the aegis of counternarcotics initiatives, Colombian military officials have admitted in the past that much of the aid has been used for counterinsurgency. This fact has also been made clear in the September 1991 Government Accounting Office study Drug War: Observation on Counternarcotics Aid to Colombia and in the past few Congressional Presentation for Security Assistance documents of both the Clinton and Bush Administrations. Successive Colombian governments have hidden behind the myth that drug-trafficking is at the root of the massive- scale political violence in Colombia. Amnesty International recognizes the seriousness of drugs-trafficking related violence in Colombia, as well as the threat that the narcotics trade poses to the international community. But there is strong evidence that some U.S. aid intended to fight it is not being used for that purpose, and is being used to commit human rights violations. "If the Colombian government will not take responsibility for its army and their paramilitary auxiliaries, it is high time that the U.S. Government take action to show it will not be complicit in these killings. That is why we are calling on the U.S. Government now to suspend future military aid," said Dr. Schulz. Amnesty International's recent report, Political Violence in Colombia: Myth and Reality, documents the severity of the human rights situation including widespread political killings and disappearances, criticizes the Colombian government for not taking decisive action to make the armed forces act within the law, and demonstrates a pattern of impunity for human rights violators. At the launch of Amnesty's campaign, Dr. Schulz emphasized that "it is the responsibility of the U.S. Government to ensure that funds provided to foreign governments do not contribute to human rights violations. We are deeply chagrinned that the US government has persistently failed to question whether the end-use of military aid it provides has contributed to the deadly spiral of violence in Colombia," he said. -- 30 -- --- * Origin: Helix: FidoNet<>Internet - Seattle (206)783-6368 (1:343/70.10)